3 HN users recommended this explainer3 months2019–2023score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters point to it as a clear, approachable explanation of Shor's algorithm and what quantum computers actually do.
MinutePhysics explains Shor's algorithm, showing how a quantum computer factors large integers by finding the period of a number modulo N. It walks through the modular arithmetic and number theory that give the exponential speedup over classical factoring, and why this threatens encryption.
“Minute Physics has a really good explanation of Shor's algorithm, and by proxy, Quantum computing.” (HN, 2019)
This helped me a lot and I think it made the rounds on hackernews a while back as well. [link] There's also this video which walks through how quantum computers solve a very specific factoring problem (Shor's Algorithm) in a way that classical computers cannot. [this video]
Walks through quantum factoring that classical computers cannot match
This video clears a most important misconception everyone has regarding QC which is "How a QC does operation's parallelly and what does that even mean when you can only get 1 output irl?" I hope I myself have understood it correctly if that's right Also Minute Physics video for the Shor's Algorithm is good explaination [this video]
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